


I Saw The Light Fade

by LucyLovecraft



Category: Ogniem i Mieczem | With Fire and Sword (1999), Trylogia | The Trilogy - Henryk Sienkiewicz
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Established Relationship, Goodbyes, M/M, Multi, OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 18:33:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13886676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucyLovecraft/pseuds/LucyLovecraft
Summary: Jan Skrzetuski and Jurko Bohun have their moment to say goodbye.





	I Saw The Light Fade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [am_fae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/am_fae/gifts).



> From an angst/fluff prompt on Tumblr, asked by the aforementioned lovely am_fae.

“Just breathe, all right?” Jan held Bohun’s hands over the rough bandage, trying to make the blanched fingers press hard against the stomach wound beneath. “I can’t ride with you like this—I need to get to the village and find a healer. Bohun? Bohun, I need you to hold this. You need to hold this or you will bleed out, do you understand?”

The other man’s eyes were vague, unfocused.

“Bohun! Bohun? Bohun, look at me!” He touched the other man’s face, leaving a bright red smear on the pale skin; Jan had never seen him so pale. “Jurko, please,” he begged, “I have to go.”

The Cossack shook his head, pinning Jan’s hand to his cheek and refusing to let go, eyes shut: “No.”

“The healer—”

“It’s too late Jan. We’re both soldiers.”

“Then you know there’s always some chance! The things men walk away from—”

“No, not like this.”

“Are you surrendering? You, the great Cossack colonel? You’ll survive this. Let me get help, I’ll be back in—”

“Please, Jan.” And the dark eyes were open now, looking up at him. “Don’t leave me. I don’t think I have very long.”

“No,” Jan whispered, leaning his brow against Bohun’s. “I won’t let you go.”

“You’ve never been able to hold me back,” Bohun said, with a ghost of his old haughty smile. “But…” he kissed Jan’s palm, and his voice broke as he said, “this time, _I don’t want to go.”_

“Don’t go, then! Listen to me, for once!”

“Tell Helena… tell her I’m sorry to leave without saying goodbye.” Bohun pressed a faltering kiss to his lips. “This is for her.” He kissed him again. “And this is for you, my Jan.”

“Bohun, you can’t—I’ll bring you home—I—Fight, damn you, you have to fight! ”

“I’m trying, Jan, I am. But I’ve already lost,” Bohun said, and Jan wept to hear the pain in his voice. So much pain, and there was nothing Jan could do. “I’m cold, Jan. Please, just—”

He did not need to finish the question. Jan held him tight in his arms, still pressing one hand to staunch the bleeding because he did not know what else to do, and holding Bohun’s hand tight in the other, blood slick and sticky between their fingers.

“I love you,” Jan whispered, face buried in the dark hair. “We love you.”

“And I you. I never thought… but I love you both so much that I—” Bohun coughed, and the blood from his lips spattered the front of Jan’s _kontusz_. “I need to—”

“ _Shh_ , no,” he begged, stroking Bohun’s hair. “I know, Jurko. I know.”

“Jan, please, I want to see your face.”

He shifted as carefully and quickly as he could, looking into those beautiful, wild eyes.

“Jan?”

“I’m here.”

“I can’t see you.”

Jan let out a sob, but he took Bohun’s hand and held it to his cheek. “I’m here, I’m here. We’ll see each other again, I promise. I love you. Oh God, oh Christ, oh merciful saviour, _please don’t take him from me.”_

Bohun dragged in a halting, ragged breath, then sighed. He became so quiet then that Jan thought he’d gone, and he nearly cried out when Bohun spoke again, though the sound was so faint that he could hardly make out the words:

“Jan?”

“Yes?” He could never have imagined the strength it took not to weep in that moment, but if he wept, he knew he would not be able to hear that fading voice.

But there was nothing more, only silence. 

Silence, stillness, and peace.

It was this last, most of all, that told Jan he was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from “For Everything A Reason” by Carina Round, which is as beautiful a song as it is emotionally devastating.


End file.
